Editing South Island (section)

===Religion===
{{Main|Religion in New Zealand}}

[[Anglicanism]] is strongest in [[Canterbury Region|Canterbury]] (the city of [[Christchurch]] having been founded as an Anglican settlement).

[[Catholicism]] still has a noticeably strong presence on the [[West Coast, New Zealand|West Coast]], and in [[Kaikōura]]. The territorial authorities with the highest proportion of Catholics are Kaikōura (where they are 18.4% of the total population), [[Westland District|Westland]] (18.3%), and [[Grey District|Grey]] (17.8%).

[[Presbyterianism]] is strong in the lower South Island – the city of [[Dunedin]] was founded as a Presbyterian settlement, and many of the early settlers in the region were Scottish Presbyterians. The territorial authorities with the highest proportion of Presbyterians are [[Gore, New Zealand|Gore]] (where they are 30.9% of the total population), [[Clutha District]] (30.7%), and [[Southland District|Southland]] (29.8%).

The first [[Muslim]]s in New Zealand were Chinese gold diggers working in the Dunstan gold fields of [[Otago]] in the 1860s. Dunedin's Al-Huda mosque is the world's southernmost,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://otagomusa.wordpress.com/download/ |title=Muslim University Students' Association website |publisher=Otagomusa.wordpress.com |date=28 May 2010 |access-date=12 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110101091154/http://otagomusa.wordpress.com/download/ |archive-date=1 January 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the farthest from [[Mecca]].<ref>Distance between Mecca and Dunedin is 14,811.44&nbsp;kilometers according to http://www.geodatasource.com/distancecalculator.aspx {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101018120647/http://www.geodatasource.com/distancecalculator.aspx |date=18 October 2010 }}</ref>